Stolen Earth AU
by Helen Pattskyn
Summary: As the title implies contains MAJOR SPOILERS for The Stolen Earth. I wasn’t *extremely* unhappy w/ the episode, but I wasn’t truly *happy* either, so this is my AU re-write, which follows "my" AU world. More inside. Usual disclaimers apply...
1. Chapter 1

**The Stolen Earth / AU**

…………………………………………………..

**A/N – **as the title implies **MAJOR SPOILERS for The Stolen Earth.** Because as noted I wasn't totally unhappy, but I wasn't quite happy either…

I'm brining the events Stolen Earth into "my" AU world, taking place some time after Chapter 35 of **Short Stories**. If you're reading this even though you don't read that, just take it on faith that there are new team members and don't worry about who they are. I left them out of the action on purpose.

This may or may not be a one-shot, will decide after next week's episode what to do w/ it. The usual disclaimes apply; Torchwood and Doctor Who belong to the BBC and I'm not making money here.

_**Everything prior to Jack leaving the Hub follows cannon** (except that the Torchwood Team have met Donna and the Doctor as well as several other previous Companions previously, in the above mentioned Short Stories.)_

* * *

Jack entered the numbers Martha had given him from Project Indigo into the controls of his wrist strap and turned to face Gwen and Ianto, unable to keep himself from smiling. He wasn't going to lose his team, _not_ today. "All right. This is going to be a rough ride, but we're going to go find him..."

"Jack… I can't," Gwen backed away from him.

Ianto gave her an incredulous look, "You can't stay here, you heard what the Herriot Jones said." He fought off the blind panic that was clouding his senses. It was as much a deep seated psychological fear of Daleks triggered by the memories of Canary Wharf as it was a very rational fear of Daleks because they were… well… Daleks. They were Daleks and they had somehow been transported the Earth and twenty six other worlds to some other place in the cosmos, and that was technology that scared the young Welshman half to death.

"Gwen…"

"No, Jack. I have to go to Rhys. This… this could be it. You said so yourself. I don't want him to be alone."

"We have to stick together," Ianto told her.

"But we're not together. Bobby and Wendy are out there somewhere."

"They're together, they'll be all right," the Captain insisted again. He realized he was saying it to convince himself as much as anyone else. He had to believe that he wasn't going to lose them, not today.

"I… I can't leave Rhys alone, Jack. _I can't_."

He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. The lump turned to ice and dropped down into his gut when Ianto spoke next:

"You can't go out there by yourself," the younger man stepped away from Jack. Although he looked like his heart was breaking, his voice was calm. "I'll come with you."

She shook her head, "No. Go with Jack. I _want_ you to go with Jack," she fought back the tears.

The young man opened his mouth to protest, but she shook her head again, stepping further away from the pair of them.

"I want you two to stay together. I'll be fine," she forced a smile.

"Gwen…" Jack began again.

"I'll be fine, honest," Gwen swore again, as she began losing the battle and eyeliner-stained tears streaked down her cheeks. "I have to go be with Rhys. You two go. Find the Doctor. Find him and… and save the world," this time the smile wasn't quite so forced.

"All right," Jack nodded. "But be careful out there." He handed her his side arm, "Remember, aim for the eyestalk."

"Right. Eyestalk," she nodded.

"And I expect that returned to me in good working order," Jack added.

"Will do," Gwen nodded and a gave them tight lipped smile; she ran out of the Hub, sealing the doors behind her, hoping they hadn't noticed that she was crying.

"Jack…?" Ianto questioned him.

"It's her choice."

Ianto looked past him at the wreckage that was the Hub. The Daleks would be here any minute… Bobby and Wendy were out there somewhere, they'd been investigating a rift spike when the whole Earth jumped to its present location. But Jack was right, they were together, they would be all right. Even if they'd been unable to get in touch with them, they'd be all right. He took a breath and closed his eyes a moment. He was just barely holding back the tears that had been threatening to break through for the last thirty minutes. _But he needs me,_ Ianto reminded himself. All they had right now was each other.

When Ianto opened his eyes again, he asked simply, "What do I do?"

"Come here and hang on tight," Jack hefted the huge gun over his shoulder. "This thing wasn't really meant to transport more than one person, but it's been done before."

Wiping his cheeks, Ianto crossed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Jack's waist.

"This is going to be a bumpy ride," the Captain warned; he wrapped his free arm as tight as he could around Ianto's shoulders and pressed the controller on his writs strap.

The Hub abound them seemed to pixilate, becoming a thousand points of light and dark… the colour washed out, the dark over took the light and everything wrenched and twisted in the Ianto's gut… and in a nauseating flash of colour and light and deafening white noise, they were standing on the street under a dark alien sky… Earth's new sky.

"Just take a deep breath," Jack held on tight until it felt like Ianto had found his feet again.

The young man nodded to indicate that he could stand on his own.

Jack let him go slowly, taking in the scene around them. The street was in ruins… smouldering rubble where houses had been… wreckage of vehicles… the smell of death. _The smell of extermination..._

"What do they want?" Ianto whispered, clinging to Jack again without meaning to. It was Canary Wharf all over again, only somehow it was worse… it was a scene out of his worst nightmares...

"I don't know. Come on," he checked the readings on his wrist strap. The TARDIS should be around here somewhere… "We're close. Keep your eyes open."

"Right." Ianto took another breath and drew his gun, unsure it would do any good, but it was better than nothing. "I'm all right," he said to Jack's concerned expression.

The Captain nodded and led the way… first he saw the Doctor… running… then he saw the Dalek… then he saw Rose.

The next few seconds were a blur; he didn't remember aiming or even pulling the trigger, but the gun in his arms went off and the Dalek went up in smoke and then he was running.

"Rose? _Rose!"_

"Jack…!" she grinned wildly, but it only lasted a second, "The Doctor…We have to get him to the TARDIS…can you help me carry him?"

Jack handed the gun off to Ianto and got the semi-conscoius Time Lord to his feet. Then he looked over at Rose again, half expecting to see Donna standing there wanting to know why he'd just called her Rose, but it really was_ her_… it was _Rose Tyler_… "How… how are you here?"

She was too consumed with worry for the Doctor to answer his question, but she did manage a tight smile over in his direction, "Great timing, by the way, Captain."

Jack smiled back, wondering if that was true or if he'd arrived too late for it to be the nick of time. It looked like the Doctor was losing strength with each passing second.

"Oh my God!" Donna cried when they got in the TARDIS door, "What happened!"

"Dalek," Jack explained, "Are you all right?"

"NO! I'm not all right. I'm not at all all right!"

"Donna… calm down," Ianto put the gun down and moved towards her. "It's all right," he didn't really believe that, glancing again at the Doctor as Jack and the blond laid him down on the control room floor, but he needed to say it anyway, and not just for Donna's sake.

"Stay with me, Doctor, please!" Rose held him close. "I came back for you!"

He smiled up at her, "You're still fantastic."

"_Doctor…__!" _She sobbed, understanding what he was saying. That's what he'd said the last time he did this, that she was fantastic.

The Time Lord's gaze shifted to the man clinging to him, "Jack, good to see you. Good timing. You too, Mr. Jones," he glanced up at the young Welshman. "Donna… it's all right…"

"_Doctor!"_ Donna cried. "Don't you dare leave me like this…!"

Jack held onto him, "Hang on! We need you. _**I**_ need you!"

"It's starting…" he said then, and closed his eyes.

"We're losing him," Rose sobbed. "And I came all this way… I came back for _you_," she told the Doctor. But as he began to shimmer, she pulled back, hauling Jack to his feet along with her. "It'll be all right," she said, realizing that she was the only person who could explain it (not that she had the words.) "I came back for _him_, but it'll be all right," she wiped the mascara and eyeliner stained tears from her cheeks and held onto Jack as tight as she could. "It'll be all right, really it will."

Jack gave her a confused look, "I don't understand…"

"This is it, he's regenerating… I saw it before… " she told the Captain. "He'll never be the same, but he'll _be_ all right."

Donna shook her head. "What's happening? What do you mean 'regenerating'?"

"It's what he does when he's about to die…" Jack told her.

"_Die_…?"

"It's what he does instead of dying," he tried to explain. "It's ok. It's going to _**be **_ok. He's changing. But it's going to be ok."

Donna looked to Ianto but the best he could do was shake his head; he was completely out of his depth and not afraid to say that this was one time when he didn't know everything.

Neither Jack nor Rose were completely convinced that it would really, truly, be all right, which was why Jack chose that moment to tell he something he hoped would make her smile. "By the way," he wiped the rest of the moisture and black smudges from Rose's cheeks, "Sorry we didn't invite you… but I got married a couple of weeks ago."

She took the bait and grinned, "_You?_ Jack Harkness? _**Married**_…_ how_…**who**_**…**__?"_

Jack chuckled despite everything else that was happening and nodded over his shoulder, "That gorgeous Welshman behind me."

Rose looked over at Ianto; he gave her one of those shy little smiles…

As the shimmer radiating form inside the Doctor intensified, Jack held onto Rose tighter hoping she was right, that this was what it was really supposed to look like when the Doctor did this…

…………………………………………………..

**A/N:**

_It bugged me that__ Jack knew __**about **__regeneration but Rose was the one who'd__** witnessed**__ it first hand, yet in the actual script, he was telling her what was going on. While I agree that Jack certainly knows what it is and maybe even how it works, she should have recognized it (IMHO) right away from the last time she was there when the Doctor regenerated._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter ****Two: Journey's End**

* * *

**It occured to me after posting that I forgot the spoiler warning... it should be obvious, but well... better safe than sorry. ;-) Major Spoilers ahead!**

**A/N:**

**First let me say a HUGE thank you to everyone who revi****ewed the first chapter!! Thank you doesn't even cover it. I hadn't expected that much positive feed back on that one. :-) **

_Ok, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here, I just need to finish what I started ;-) __( I won't be re-writing the entire episode, just "tweaking" certain events to fit into "my" storyline and maybe expound just a wee bit here and there.) _

**No copyright infringement ****or plagiarism intended! **I'm not making any money off this, but I **am** borrowing much more heavily than usual from the original. (Changes were made only to make the flow of the written scene more smooth towards the end. Sometimes what works onscreen doesn't work so well on paper.) Honestly, no offence is intended to the BBC or RTD and if either thinks I'm making a profit off their work, they're welcome to have a look at my bank account ;-)

(Oh, did anyone else notice that it's not just me, Jack called Gwen "Gwen Cooper" last night, too ;-) Guess no matter who writes him, Jack has a hard time letting go! :snickers: Loved the way they included Eve's character from that Doctor Who episode.)

* * *

"What's going on, what the Hell are those things!" Rhys demanded, fear making his tone harsh as he clung to his wife. "Oh God," he breathed, kissing the top of her head, before she could answer his question. "I thought I'd never see you again." He held her tighter.

Gwen smiled up at him through her tears, "You're not getting rid of me that easily, you big idiot," she teased him.

They both laughed for a moment, then she buried her head in his chest and tried to tell him it would be all right. "Jack and Ianto went to find the Doctor."

"What can he do?"

"I don't know. But whatever it is… it'll be brilliant!" she tried to sound braver than she felt, smiling up at him again. No matter what happened, she'd kept her promise, she'd come home, just like she said she would.

"Yeah. It'll be brilliant," Rhys agreed; he didn't sound any more certain than she did. He wiped the last of the mascara stained tears from her cheeks and together they sat down on the floor to wait out the storm…

……………………………………………………….

Jack, Rose, Donna and Ianto watched as the gold shimmer coming from the Doctor grew brighter and brighter… and then shot into the jar with his hand.

"That didn't happen last time…" Rose whispered up at Jack.

"Well," the Doctor's tone was annoyingly matter of fact when he grinned up at her, "I didn't have a spare hand in a jar then, did I? Handy spare hand," he added with a grin blowing the rest of the gold shimmer away from the hand in the jar.

"A… a what…?" she continued to stare at him in disbelief, as a thousand emotions flooded through her. If Jack hadn't been holding her up, she would have fallen over. "You mean… that's… _**yours**__?"_ She looked at the jar. Sure enough, there really was a hand floating in it.

"Christmas Day, remember?" the Doctor asked her. "Sycorax, lost my hand in a sword fight... and there it is." He shot Jack a wink.

"But… how did it get _**here**__?_" Rose wanted to know.

Jack, for once, had the decency to look a little shy about his involvement in something. "Long story," he said before the Doctor could start telling it. Somehow whenever the Time Lord told the story, he made Jack sound like some kind of crazed stalker, _just_ because he'd kept the man's hand in a jar for a couple of years.

"But… what just happened?" Donna looked at them both blankly, just as grateful for the support of the young Welshman she was hanging on to as Rose was for Jack's arms around her. "You…_ didn't_ regenerate…? He said you were dying!" she shot Jack an accusatory look.

"I was for a moment," the Doctor explained as he stood back up. "Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but as soon as that was done, I didn't need to change so I siphoned it off into the nearest biomatching receptacle. Namely, my hand," he gave the four of them a look, raising his eyebrows specifically in Jack's direction, "Unless of course you would have preferred a different face? You mentioned you liked the blond…"

Jack used one arm to pull the Doctor into a hug, grinning and fighting back his own surge of emotions while not letting go of Rose, who was still holding on tight. "I hate it when you pull stuff like this!"

he grinned broadly at the relief in the Captain's voice. "Me? You should talk, shouldn't you, then?"

Jack just laughed and held him close for a long moment before letting him go.

Rose loosened her grip on Jack's waist, but didn't quite pull away just yet.

She looked up at the Doctor with wide dark eyes. "But you're still you? You're really still _you?"_ Her voice sounded tiny in the large control room as she scrutinized the Time Lord's face for several very long moments before finally pulling away from the protection of Jack's grip.

He stepped back away from them and moved over to stand with the Donna and Ianto, sliding one arm around Donna, touching Ianto's arm as well, and pulling the both of them in closer. Ianto looked over at him, his face full of uncertainty; between them, Donna just let herself be held.

"I'm still me," the Doctor's voice wasn't any louder than Rose's had been a moment ago. He waited until she came a step closer to pull her into his arms, proving to her that he was him, he hadn't changed… "I missed you, Rose Tyler," he said softly into her ear as he held her close. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too. My Doctor." Fresh tears poured out and she didn't care who saw.

A moment later, the lights went out…

……………………………………………….

Standing next to Jack, watching the TARDIS and Donna sinking slowly into the burning, molten core of the Crucible, Ianto felt as if a part of him were crumbling, dying along with her. It was only the warm presence of the man next to him that kept him from collapsing under the weight of what was happening around him and the horrific memories of Canary Wharf that had been threatening at his psyche since he first heard that awful sound… _Exterminate…_

He felt Jack's hand on his shoulder and took hold of it, knowing his Captain was feeling the same helplessness he was. Ianto glanced over his shoulder at him, but the older man's expression was unreadablely grim.

This was really it, he realized, they were all going to die here. Jack was right, he couldn't save them, not from this.

Even the Doctor couldn't save the world this time. He looked up at the screen again, but there was nothing left of the TARDIS or Donna.

Behind him, the Dalek rambled on at the Doctor in it's horrible mechanical voice, taunting the Time Lord… a creature that claimed not to be 'burdened' by emotions, and yet it was taunting them all like a petty school yard bully… if he weren't on the verge of emotional collapse, Ianto might have reacted to the absurdity of it.

Then Jack responded to the taunt by raising his gun and the Welshman closed his eyes tight, fighting back the tears that he'd only barley managed to hold in check so far. Despite what he knew, he couldn't watch Jack get shot by one of those things. He couldn't bear the thought of Jack leaving him again no matter how convinced he was that he would be back eventually.

"No! _Jack!"_ Rose screamed, too late, her voice an echo of the horror Ianto felt inside, but refused to put voice to as Jack cried out and fell to the hard metal floor.

He watched as Rose crumbled over his partner's lifeless body, weeping, forcing himself to be steady, even when she looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "They killed him," she said.

"I know," was all he dared to say. Another word and he knew he'd break down as well.

The Doctor knelt next to her, "Rose, come here… leave him," he said softly, his arms around her. "There's nothing you can do…" he shot Ianto a quick glance over his shoulder.

The Welshman merely blinked, once, not daring to nod and knowing that if he tried to speak again, he'd be no use to them.

He stepped over to help the Doctor gather Rose up, pulling her gently away from Jack's rapidly-cooling body, trying not to look at it. No matter how many times Jack did this, it hurt him unimaginably; he could never quite shake the fear that Jack might some day use up whatever it was that made him immortal, or that _this_ might be the time when he didn't come back.

A firm hand on his arm made him blink; it was the Doctor, giving him another look.

Ianto just swallowed and brushed away the tears he hadn't even realized had broken free of his control.

"Escort them to the vaults," the Dalek commanded.

Ianto missed the wink Jack shot the Doctor as they were taken from the room…

……………………………………………

Ianto stood silently in the energy bubble, listening to the Doctor and Davros going back and forth, trying very hard not to be noticed as he was clearly not a part of whatever prophecy put forth by the insane, deformed,_ thing_ in the back of the room. He particularly didn't like the bit about one of them dying… His moment of selfish despair ended quickly, however, when he heard the rest of it and saw all those people disintegrate, their atoms literally unravelled before his eyes on the screen above them. It was madness… he couldn't even think about his friends or family, because it was literally the whole universe being threatened...

…………………………………………………..

Shifting the curtain by barely a millimetre, Gwen peered out the window at the street below and then up into the sky at the Dalek ships that seemed to be flying away from the city. "They're, they're _leaving_…." she said over her shoulder to Rhys. "The Daleks… they seem to be _retreating." _She could barely believe what her own eyes told her was really happening.

Rhys came to stand behind her, sliding his arms around her waist, "Then it's over. They did it. Jack and that Doctor… "

Gwen looked up at the sky; other than the Dalek ships flying away from the planet, nothing. "No, no, I don't think so," she shook her head. "I have to get back to the Hub."

"What? But they're gone…!"

"That doesn't mean it's over, Rhys."

He turned her around in his arms and studied her a long moment. "Fine. I'm coming with you."

"You can't…"

"Why not?"

Gwen couldn't think of a good reason… or even a bad one. The best she could do was hope that Bobby and Wendy were all right and had found some way back to the Hub by now.

…………………………………………….….

Ianto stood listening to Martha tell the Doctor about UNIT's idea of a final solution feeling as if he was going to be ill. For the human race to be destroyed by aliens was one thing, and it was a horrible thing, but to go out by their own hand in some sort of crazy act of planetary suicide…? It was unthinking. It was worse than unthinkable. Only shouldn't Jack's very existence mean that that never happened…? _God, I hope so…_

Jack's transmission cut into Martha's and the screen split, displaying them both.

"He's still alive," Rose's voice caught in her throat when she saw Jack standing there, grinning that stupid, cocky grin of his. The she realized who was with him, "Oh my God… that's my mum…"

"And Mickey," added the Doctor with a wry smile. "Captain, what are you doing?" he looked from the images of Jack to Sarah Jane and then back again. Jack's cocky attitude told him that he was _not _going to like whatever it was that the Captain had to say.

While Jack laid out his terms, Rose looked over at Ianto, who was listening to Jack's 'plan', as well. The knot in his gut grew tighter with every word coming out of his partner's mouth.

"He's still alive!" Rose repeated more urgently in Ianto's direction; either she was still in shock herself at Jack's miraculous appearance or she couldn't get over his lack of reaction to Jack still being alive and well, and threatening the entire Dalek fleet, no less. "Ianto… he's _still _alive…!" her surge of hope was obvious, even if Ianto thought it might be premature.

Still, he smiled at her. "He's the stubborn type," the Welshman said quietly. Jack's idea of a final solution was only marginally better than Martha's… but at least it didn't involve planetary suicide.

"Now that's what I call a ransom," Rose grinned up at the Captain when he finished explaining what he and Sarah Jane had done. It took her a moment to realize that the Doctor was being awfully quiet.

Ianto, who had been watching the Doctor as well as Jack and Rose, noticed that the other man's expression first. "Doctor?" he asked.

The Time Lord didn't respond to him or to Rose or to the mad thing behind them or even to Davros himself, when the Dalek's creator began speaking about what a hypocrite the Doctor was (a sentiment Ianto didn't share, but interrupting the madman in the middle of his rant didn't seem like a good idea.)

"… how many more… how many have died in your name?" Davros asked of the Time Lord in a tone that was chillingly calm.

Ianto watched the Doctor sinking further into himself as the words hit home. He couldn't begin to imagine what must be going through the other's mind. As old as the Doctor was, as much death and destruction as he'd seen… so many people… civilizations… whole planets…

_Donna… _Ianto thought of the woman he'd only barely known, but who the Doctor had travelled with for over a year, a woman whose death they'd been forced to witness such a short time ago.

He remembered Tosh. Owen. _Lisa… _

He thought about Gwen and Rhys, Wendy and Bobby… His mother… his family… there was no way of knowing what had happened to them, if they were safe… if they were still alive…

And he realized that his own life was barely twenty five years yet, while the Doctor was centuries old…He'd witnessed the death of his own planet and everyone on it and _still_ the Daleks lived on, as if the Time War hadn't even meant _**anything**__. _It was like the Doctor's people had died for nothing because this Davros was still here, still alive, still creating more Daleks. He still had his army, his horrible, insane army… Ianto turned away from the screen a moment to collect himself. Jack didn't need to see him breaking down… he _couldn't _see it. _He needs me…_

When Ianto faced his partner again, he forced a tight smile; the look in Jack's eyes told him that he'd seen the tears. But he nodded, just once, briefly, the only indication Ianto might ever get that no matter what happened, somehow it would turn out all right. Even if they all died here today, the Earth would go on and with it the human race. Not everything that had happened to day would be for nothing.

"…this is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you…yourself."

"Enough," the metallic voice interrupted, "Engage defence zero five."

"Transmat engaged," replied another Dalek.

In one flash, they were all standing there, Martha and Jack, Sarah Jane, the woman Rose had identified as her mother and the man Doctor had called Mickey.

"Don't move!" the Doctor yelled at them.

A few moments later, Ianto realized that even harder than watching Jack die was watching him surrender to Davros and the Daleks, kneeling down to the floor before them, defeated... that more than anything threatened to break through his resolve to not to show just how scared he really was.

"Jack…" Ianto's voice was barely a whisper. He didn't know what else to say, but it didn't matter because the lump in his throat prevented him from speaking anyway.

His partner met his gaze… those amazing blue eyes were filled with such pain it tore Ianto in half… "I'm sorry," he choked out the only words he seemed to have.

The younger man shook his head, "Don't be sorry, Cariad." _I'll love you forever…_ he swore fiercely, silently. "I was never more alive than I have been the past two years."

Jack's smile was all he needed not to be afraid any more.

And then the impossible happened… the Doctor and Donna arrived in the TARDIS.

"Brilliant…" Jack breathed, getting to his feet.

"Donna…" Ianto gazed in bewilderment from her to the new Doctor to the other Doctor and back again, trying to piece together what had happened. Despite the conversation zinging back and forth between Donna and the Doctors, very little made any sense.

Most of the next few minutes was a blur of Donna's hitherto fore unknown brilliance and the Daleks' inability to believe that they'd been defeated as the things short circuited all over themselves, becoming helpless. Behind them the mad thing called Dalek Caan continued to spout insanities and it became obvious that this had somehow been its plan all along.

In the middle of the chaos, Ianto caught Jack's grin and felt his first surge of real hope since the Daleks had first announced themselves. He didn't even mind when Jack handed off the big gun to Mickey… he'd never been very good with big guns anyway and pushing helpless Daleks with Rose, Martha and Sarah Jane appealed to his sense of irony.

Daleks screamed while Donna and the Doctors sent planets back to where they belonged and finally the explanations started to be spoken in English plain enough for the young Welshman to fully grasp.

"And I got the best part of him," Donna flashed a sly smile. "I got his mind."

"So there's three of you?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Thee Doctors?" Rose added, just for clarity's sake.

"I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now…" Jack began.

Ianto gave a stern look.

"Don't tell me you weren't thinking exactly the same thing," the Captain challenged.

"Oi, work to do!" Donna commanded, shooting them each a merry wink. Both Doctors were clearly enjoying watching Jack squirm.

"DAVROS! You have betrayed us!" the Supreme Dalek roared, as Dalek Caan's insanity and its treachery to its own kind became more and more apparent. "I will descend to the Vault! The Vault will be purged! You will _**all**_ be exterminated!"

"Head's up!" Jack warned as it descended, firing into the room. Ianto swallowed the cold lump of fear in his throat as Jack instinctively put himself between of the rest of them and the Supreme Dalek.

"Like I was saying, _feel__** this**__!"_ the Captain, _his _Captain Ianto thought proudly, declared as he obliterated the red Dalek leader.

"We've lost the magnetron!" the Doctor yelled as he got back to his feet. "But there's only one planet left… oh… guess which one?" he seemed to find the irony amusing. "But we can use the TARDIS, come on! Everybody in!"

……………………………………………..…..

Ianto stood behind Jack, both hands resting lightly on his partner's hips. He'd been just as happy to see Gwen alive and well and back at the Hub with Rhys (of all people) and Wendy and Bobby, as they were to see him and Jack, alive and well. Once the Doctor had coordinated Torchwood and Sarah Jane's son Luke and her computer, with the assistance of the strange metal 'canine', it was smooth sailing all the way back to where the Earth belonged.

He couldn't say he completely regretted what the 'new' Doctor had done with the Daleks, he wasn't even sure he would have done it any differently. _But it doesn't matter because what's done is done, _Ianto thought.

He knew the Doctor, Jack's Doctor, deeply regretted what had happened, though. That he regretted, not on a personal level, but because he knew what it was like to live with regret and he couldn't imagine how many regrets the Doctor must have already.

Jack cast half a glance back at him, smiling slightly; Ianto returned it. The older man pulled one of his partner's hands away from his hip and gave it a squeeze before resting it on the TARDIS control under his own hand. Ianto moved in a little closer, laying his cheek against Jack's back for just a moment, taking in his scent. They were alive. In the end that was all that really mattered. Them. The Earth. _Reality._ They were _**all **_still alive.

"I can't get over you two," Rose said from across the TARDIS console. "And I can't believe I missed it!"

"Well… you know," the Doctor interjected, her Doctor, Jack's Doctor. "Parallel Universe and all that… probably made delivering the wedding invitation a bit difficult."

Rose giggled at him.

"To say the least," Ianto agreed. "I wouldn't even have known how to address the envelope."

She laughed again, "I like him, Jack," she winked at the Captain.

"Likewise," the Welshman returned with a smile. "Although… you're not what I'd expected."

"Oh… Captain Jack talking out of school again?" she teased.

"Erm…" Jack tensed up a little.

Ianto suddenly realized she didn't know_ any_ of the story… she couldn't, not with the look she was giving them. He swallowed and was about to apologize when Jack gave his hand another squeeze. "Take this," he said quietly," letting Ianto take his place at the TARDIS control.

"Jack…?" Rose queried as he walked around to her, his expression unreadable. "What is it? Doctor?" she cast a worried, questioning look at her Doctor.

"You don't remember," the Time Lord said softly, as much for her benefit as for Jack's.

The Captain glanced at him a moment, as if he couldn't believe… but then he nodded, simply accepting what the other man said as the truth.

The Doctor motioned to Jackie to go ahead and take over for her daughter, although he stood right behind her, making sure she had the hang of it as Jack drew Rose aside.

"Jack?" she bit her bottom lip, looking up at him. "What's going on? What don't I remember?"

He took both her hands into his and held them, "Do you remember the last time we fought Daleks together?" he kept his tone even. "The Game Station?" he prompted.

"Yeah. Yeah I remember. I…" she looked suddenly over at the Doctor. "I… remember… we left you. He never said why. I… I never asked…" she blinked as if it was only just then occurring to her that she'd never even asked why they left him there like that. "Doctor?"

"I had no choice."

"He didn't," Jack agreed. "Something happened to me there. Something changed me, made me different."

"The Daleks killed you today. I saw it. You weren't breathing." She pulled one hand free and held it under his nose, causing Jack to laugh. "What's so funny!"

"Sorry," he captured his hand back in his. "It's all right, I'm breathing now," he smiled at her for a moment before his features became serious again. "I can't die, Rose."

"What? Is that some weird fifty-first century thing?" her tone was incredulous, but something in her eyes told him she was remembering. It was a hint of fear. "Are we all going to live forever some day or something?" she tried to laugh it off.

"No. No, I'm the only one."

Rose looked at him for a long, long time, as if searching for something different. He couldn't tell if she found anything or not. Taking a breath and letting it out again, Jack gave her hands a tight squeeze before telling her that he was a little over two thousand years older than he'd been the last time they'd been together.

"Two thousand and fifty eight years to be exact," Ianto interjected from across the room. Jack shot him a look, "Erm… assuming my math is correct, Sir."

Jack cleared his throat, "As I was saying," he shot his partner another dark glare before returning gaze to the blond woman who was hanging onto his hands as if she was suddenly afraid to let go. She was shaking. "I am a little over two thousand years older than I was the last time we saw each other," he repeated, holding her tight.

"But… you don't look… " she freed one of her hands again and brushed her fingers through his hair, spying a couple of grey hairs, but nothing more. "What happened?"

"You happened, Rose," the Doctor told her gently. He placed his hands on her shoulders, to steady her.

"_Me?_ How?" She looked from one to the other and back again in bewilderment.

"You did something you were never meant to do," the Doctor explained, "And… and Captain Jack here is going to be with us for a long, long time," he stole half a glance at Martha, who returned it with a bit of a smile that no one else understood.

"Jack…" Rose began. "I don't know what to say…"

"You don't have to say anything."

"I feel like I should be saying I'm sorry or something… to live forever…" she looked over her shoulder at the Doctor. She knew the reason he'd rejected her. He wasn't immortal, but his lifespan was so much greater than hers would ever be and he'd said it would kill him to watch someone he loved grow old and die while he stayed the same. She pulled her gaze from the Doctor's face so she could look over at Ianto.

The Welshman gave her a tight lipped smile that she couldn't return. She couldn't even look at him any longer, knowing that it was somehow her fault that Jack was going to have to watch his partner grow old and die and there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Jack…?"

"It's ok, Rose," he told her honestly.

"But…"

Jack shook his head, "I don't want you to be sorry. If it weren't for you… both of you," he glanced at the Doctor, "I wouldn't be the man I am today. I certainly wouldn't have been that park chasing down a Weevil in the middle of the night," he shot a wink across the control room to his partner. "Not that I didn't have the situation entirely under control," he added with a wry grin.

"Never thought you didn't, Sir," Ianto's tone was dry.

Jack chuckled, favouring the younger man with a soft, loving expression before turning back to Rose. "It's really all right," he said softly, as he leant in and kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

"You're… welcome… I guess," her tone was uncertain.

He nodded and released her hands to re-join Ianto at the controls.

The Doctor gathered Rose into his arms and held her for the rest of the journey home. He already knew how it was going to end, but for this last little while, he wanted to be the one holding onto her.

Jack wrapped his arms around the young Welshman's waist. He really didn't care who witnessed the display of affection, not today. Not after the last couple of hours. "Two thousand and fifty eight years?" He asked after a moment. "Really?"

"Assuming my math is correct," the younger glanced over his shoulder. "But If it makes you feel any better, you honestly don't look a day over two thousand."

"You, Mister, are in so much trouble when we get back home…"

"Oi!" Mickey shot them a look, "I think I've heard about enough, thank you. Captain Cheese Cake," he added with a wry grin.

"That is _definitely_ Beef Cake, to you," Jack shot a grin back at him, across the console.

Ianto blinked.

"You really don't want to know," Sarah Jane assured the him quietly, with a sympathetic smile.

"I think I'll take your word on that, Ma'am." But somehow when Jack pulled him closer it really didn't matter.

…………………………………………………..

Jack reached back into the TARDIS for Ianto's hand; as soon as the younger man emerged, he slipped his arm around his shoulders. They were both surprised to see Wendy and Bobby leaning up against a tree… under the circumstances, Ianto didn't mind that Jack let go of him almost as quickly as he'd taken hold of him.

"How…?" Jack asked the blond medic as they held onto each other for a long moment.

"How hard do you really think it was tracking a temporal distortion?" Bobby inquired with a nod towards the Time Lord and his TARDIS.

Ianto scooped Wendy up into his arms, "I was so worried about you…"

"We were fine. We just got pinned down and couldn't make it back to the Hub until after you'd gone off to save the world without us. Doctor," she added with shy smile after finally Ianto put her down.

"Miss Shutten."

"Oi," Mickey nudged the Doctor with his elbow.

"Erm…?

"_**Oi."**_ He repeated.

"Oh… oh right!" The Time Lord finally caught on. "Right. Mickey Smith, Miss Wendy Shutten. She's a member of Jack's Torchwood. Wendy… Mickey."

He grinned up at the tall dark skinned woman. "Guess that makes us co-workers… across parallel dimensions anyway," he added.

She glanced at Ianto questioningly.

"I'd be careful if I were you," Ianto said quietly to Mickey, but before he could say more, Jack was standing next to him, his arm around Ianto's waist again, as he asked Bobby where the 'fifth musketeer' was.

Bobby smiled at him, "She said something about spending a week with Rhys in bed."

"Not a visual I needed," Jack grimaced. "Come on, kids, what do you say we head home?"

"You're not going to have to ask me twice" said Ianto. "Doctor," he extended his hand. "A pleasure as always."

"Mr. Jones… or… did you change it to Harkness?"

"Jones-Harkness, actually," Ianto told him.

"Very nice. But before you go rushing off," he gave Jack a look. "Captain."

The older man sighed and handed over his wrist so the Doctor could disable the vortex manipulator. _Again_. "I don't know what your problem with this is thing," he grumbled.

"I told you. _No more_ _teleporting_. There's no telling what kind of mischief you'll get into… even _with_ someone to keep an eye on you," he nodded at Ianto. "There. The world is now safe."

"Not hardly," Ianto teased.

"Keep it up and I really _will_ write you up for insubordination, Mister Jones-Harkness," Jack threatened.

Ianto just grinned, "I'll keep that in mind, Sir."

The Doctor turned as Martha stepped out of the TARDIS, having said her goodbyes to the others still inside. "Do us a favour… get rid of that Auster-Haggen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."

"Consider it done."

"Good." He held her tight for a long moment then watched as both she and Mickey ran off to catch up with Jack and his team.

The last thing the Doctor heard was Mickey asking Jack if he happened to have any openings at Torchwood for someone with experience…

"Wonder if any of them will get 'round to telling him that her bite's probably worse than her bark," Donna mused quietly at his elbow. It was fairly obvious that Mickey was more interested in Wendy than working for Jack.

"Oh. Donna. That was _bad,_" he grimaced.

She grinned up at him. "Yeah. Wasn't it though?"

The Doctor laughed and ushered her into the TARDIS for their last trip together…

……………………………………………………………..

Holding his old umbrella over his head against the rain, the Doctor walked up the steps and knocked on the front door, even though he wasn't sure what he was going to say or why he was even really here.

Maybe it was what Sarah Jane had said before she dashed off to go be with her son.

Maybe it was what Davros had said, because all those terrible, true words still echoed in his mind.

Or maybe it was saying goodbye to Rose for the very last time, ever.

Maybe it was saying goodbye to Donna.

Maybe it was how much Donna reminded him of the woman who lived here, in this house.

The door opened; the man on the other side blinked as if he couldn't quite believe who was really standing on his front porch in the pouring rain. "Doctor?" he ushered him into the foyer.

"Johnny. You all right? I mean…well… you know…?"

"Daleks invading, strange planets in the sky? Yeah, we're fine." He took the Doctor's overcoat and hung it on an old wooden hat stand to dry. "We were just sitting down with Dad for some tea… there's still plenty of water in the kettle."

The Doctor smiled, "Gotta love the British. The whole world goes to Hell in a hand basket and you've still got time for tea."

A quiet little laugh caught his attention from a doorway off to the left, "You'd better love us Aussies, too, Doctor," she winked at him.

"Tegan," he pulled her up into his arms. "It is _so _good to see you again."

"Twice in the same year, even," she held him tight for a long moment. "Come on… Ian'll be thrilled you've stopped in," she pulled him towards the kitchen. "I assume you're going to tell us all about it…?"

"Nah. It's not important. All that matters is… this."

_Family. The biggest family in the world._

**-****FIN-**

* * *

**A/N**

_I brought Tegan and husband Johnny Chesterton in for Ianto and Jack's wedding__, as part of my "Short Stories." Tegan travelled w/ the 4__th__ and 5__th__ Doctor, Ian and Barbara (now deceased) travelled with the 1__st__. In subsequent spin off material, Tegan met and married Ian and Barbara's son, Johnny. Part of the joy of fanfiction is getting to be able to do what the producers usually can't do… _


End file.
